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(Image: Archi Banal)
(Image: Archi Banal)

Pop CultureNovember 30, 2022

What’s with all the ads for candlelit concerts?

(Image: Archi Banal)
(Image: Archi Banal)

These days my Facebook feed seems to mostly consist of ads for photogenic ‘candlelight concerts’ – and yours is probably the same. But are they for real?

As Twitter slowly implodes and we all disperse to various other social media platforms, I’ve returned to Facebook. And with that change of platforms has come the discovery that Facebook has been taken over. Not by bots or trolls. By candlelight concerts. 

Every scroll down my news feed seems to surface another ad for another string quartet gig, allegedly lit by the light of a thousand flickering candles. The songs of Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Queen, The Beatles, Vivaldi – all can apparently be heard by candlelight at a venue near you.

Is it a scam? It definitely looks quite scammy. Will you “Buy Your Friends And Family The Chance For Them To Choose Their Favourite Candlelight Experience” this Christmas?

Merry Christmas (Photo: Facebook)

Another suspiciously AI-generated sounding post from “Secret Auckland” asks: “Did you know that the majority of people who go to Candlelight do so with a good mate, in a group of friends, or with family?”

A good mate (Photo: Facebook)

Clicking on one of these oddly-worded ads does little to convince me these are real events actually taking place in Auckland seemingly every night of the week. “The number of candles is enough to transform any venue into a wondrous spectacle and to elevate the ambience to dreamy new heights,” the website proudly proclaims. “Material gifts might not last the test of time but memories of a magical night will last forever and there are none that match the intensity of a masterful candlelit performance.”

These descriptions are matched by equally glowing reviews. “We had a wonderful time and the venue was perfect for an intimate gathering,” says the mysterious David S. “This was great! The talent, the ambiance, the vibe made for a really great evening,” adds Daisha T. “Such a calm cosy beautiful experience. The classic sounds floating through the candle light venue was amazing. A must do,” claims Shari M. 

The company behind most of the gigs appears to be an international organisation called Fever, one of several candlelight concert-promoting Facebook pages I’ve encountered. According to its website the company is running events – predominantly candlelit – in 100 countries. Right now there are candles flickering in the UK, Australia, Spain… the list goes on.

Before the end of the year, Fever has five candlelight concerts scheduled in Auckland, including a tribute to Adele and a “very jazzy holiday special”. Tickets for the Adele event cost up to $75, which, considering tickets to Adele’s Las Vegas residency are going for up to $75,000, arguably represents a massive bargain. The performers for the Adele event are the extremely made-up sounding “Real Entertainment String Quartet” (who do appear to in fact be real).

According to a 2021 Reddit thread about the phenomenon, the candlelight events are all real too – though the reviews don’t quite live up to those published on the Fever website. “I’m a violinist and actually performed as part of a string quartet for four of these concerts that took place last week,” one user wrote. “Another [string quartet] had pulled out last minute, worried the whole thing was a scam.” 

Other users reported sudden date changes, mystery surrounding venues and difficulties securing refunds. “I purchased 4x tickets months ago for the concert today in Christchurch. I received an email this morning saying the concert has been cancelled and I’ve been rescheduled to tomorrow’s concert. Bullshit,” someone wrote. 

The first person I spoke to who has attended a candlelight concert in the flesh was, despite my cynicism, full of praise. Eve went to a Taylor Swift-themed candlelight concert in Auckland last year, and said “They played a good range of songs, not just the singles… and the arrangement for the string quartet was beautiful.”

Others were less impressed. Maddie attended a Chopin by Candlelight event and said that while it wasn’t a scam, she left disappointed – largely because the advertised candlelight was provided by LED candles. “You think you’re going to be in for this really ambient, cosy evening and then there are all these nasty artificial candles killing the buzz,” Maddie said, also expressing dismay at having to sit on “those shitty wooden benches that you get at school assemblies”.

She added: “I wouldn’t say we were scammed but it was definitely a letdown. I’m sure they have a million fire regulations that mean real candlelight is impossible but the ads suggested it’d be real candlelight and were misleading in that sense.”

The supplied images of the sponsored ad that first lured in Maddie versus her actual experience tell a story.

“The candles were fake, and they were so sparse.” (Photo: Supplied)

I’m not the first person to raise suspicion over these concerts – Consumer NZ said last year that Netsafe had reported 13 complaints about the company. And in a statement to The Spinoff this week, a Consumer spokesperson said it had expressed concerns over Fever’s “dicey terms and conditions”. 

“The promoter’s terms of use still say tickets are not refundable. If the event is cancelled or postponed, the venue is changed or any other significant change to the event occurs – the terms say a customer should contact Fever within a specified timeframe to request a replacement ticket or voucher for an equivalent amount,” they added. “The terms risk misleading consumers because if a show is cancelled or the venue is changed and it no longer suits the customer, they’re entitled to a refund.”

If you’re in this position yourself, you can always ask your bank for a chargeback if you paid by credit or debit card, the spokesperson said, or lodge a complaint with the Commerce Commission.

One issue that appears to have been rectified by Fever over time is that of the mystery venues. Previously, Fever said it believed keeping venues secret until the last minute helped to “build interest” in the events. It appears they’ve since reconsidered this policy of secrecy: the forthcoming Adele event is being advertised for the Skycity Theatre.

After looking into this phenomenon, my Instagram feed is now – you guessed it – a steady stream of ads for candlelight concerts. And if it wasn’t already, after reading this yours probably will be too.

Know more about candlelight concerts? Email stewart@thespinoff.co.nz

Keep going!
Would-be dancers at an outdoor audition in Welcome to Chippendales (Photo: Hulu/Disney+)
Would-be dancers at an outdoor audition in Welcome to Chippendales (Photo: Hulu/Disney+)

Pop CultureNovember 29, 2022

Review: Welcome to Chippendales is true crime laid bare

Would-be dancers at an outdoor audition in Welcome to Chippendales (Photo: Hulu/Disney+)
Would-be dancers at an outdoor audition in Welcome to Chippendales (Photo: Hulu/Disney+)

The new Disney+ miniseries is a story of money, murder and men in thongs, writes Catherine McGregor.

This is an excerpt from The Spinoff’s weekly pop culture and entertainment newsletter Rec Room – sign up here.

The lowdown

In the late 1970s, a nondescript Los Angeles nightclub became the hottest spot in town after owner Somen “Steve” Banerjee introduced a unique floor show: male exotic dancers performing for women customers, with all the raunchiness and boundary-pushing of traditional female striptease. From that one nightclub, the Chippendales male revue became a global phenomenon, pulling in millions of dollars and laying the groundwork for a shocking murder case.

The story is told in the new miniseries Welcome to Chippendales – as it was in Welcome to Your Fantasy, the hit eight-part podcast released last year. Despite their similar names, they’re two different projects; if you’ve listened to the (excellent) podcast, you’ll recognise a lot of the same story beats, but don’t expect a 100% faithful retelling. This is TV, after all.

Kumail Nanjiani as Steve Banerjee and Annaleigh Ashford as Irene in Welcome to Chippendales (Image: Hulu/Disney+)

The good

I’ve never been to a male revue show, and don’t have any interest in doing so in the future. As Irene (Annaleigh Ashford) tells Chippendales owner Steve Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani) during their first meeting, it’s “not my kind of place” (he gallantly assures her it’s not his kind of place either). But I can’t deny that Welcome to Chippendales makes male exotic dancing look… kind of fun? It’s all down to the superb dance sequences, which evolve from rough-as-guts stripping in the club’s early days to ambitious routines that wouldn’t look out of place in Magic Mike.

It’s hard not to think of that film when watching Welcome to Chippendales, and not just because of the buff men in rip-off pants. Like Steven Soderbergh’s post-GFC drama, the Chippendales story touches on some pretty deep themes amid the bachelorette-party bacchanalia. Born in India, Banerjee was the sort of striver the American dream is built around. He toiled for years as a gas station manager, saving almost his entire pay while fantasising of a life of Hollywood sophistication. Opening a nightclub was meant to be his entree into a more glamorous echelon of society. Yet, as he soon discovered, no amount of success could make this Bombay boy an LA insider.

Banerjee with Nick de Noia (Murray Bartlett). (Image: Hulu/Disney+)

In all likelihood Banerjee’s sense of rejection fuelled the paranoia that would eventually destroy him, and is just starting to take hold at the end of episode two, as far into the series as I’ve watched. Welcome to Chippendales is careful not to lay the foreshadowing on too thick, though the bleak story of early investor Paul Snider (Dan Stevens, reprising his bare-chest-and-bouffant look from Eurovision) and his girlfriend, Playboy playmate Dorothy Stratton (Nicola Peltz), is a hint that this is not going to be your standard rags-to-riches tale.

Unlike his previous ripped-from-the-headlines limited series, the misguided Pam & Tommy, creator Robert Siegel doesn’t start Welcome to Chippendales with every character turned up to 11. There’ll be plenty of time for Banerjee’s paranoia and seething jealousy to take hold; these early episodes are where we see the real person behind the headlines. Banerjee is not exactly likeable here, but Nanjiani is able to extract some charm from his extreme awkwardness, particularly during his courtship of fellow business nerd Irene. As Nick De Noia, the creative brains of the Chippendales brand, Murray Bartlett is the suavely confident yin to Nanjiani’s gawky yang, while Juliette Lewis brings her usual amped-up energy to a fictional character seemingly inspired by real-life “Chippendales den mother” Candace Mayeron, who features heavily in the Welcome to Your Fantasy podcast.



The bad

I realise it’s an unfortunate film-making necessity, but this “nightclub” is just too brightly lit to be believable. When the club is doing poorly, all the light does at least help it feel even emptier and sadder. But once Chippendales is humming it just looks silly. How is anyone supposed to indulge in late-70s debauchery with the lights turned up that high?

The verdict

Oiled-up beefcake might be the draw, but the on-stage antics aren’t what’s really startling about the Welcome to Chippendales story. Money, murder and men in tiny thongs? Sign me up.

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